Architects News: New York City’s $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency project (ESCR) has been approved by the New York City Planning Commission despite community outcry over the required temporary closure of the Lower East Side’s East River Park that the project entails. The project is designed by One Architecture & Urbanism, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, AKRF, and Bjarke Ingels Group.

Describing the necessity and potential impact of the project to The Villager, New York City Planning Commission Chair Marisa Lago said,“The ESCR project responds to one of the most pressing issues that the city and the globe is facing, seven years after Sandy parts of our city are still recovering from its devastation including areas that would be protected by this project.” 

Lago added, “This application is a pivotal step in protecting nearly 200,000 New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan  and includes tens of thousands of residents living in public housing.”